Group Exhibition Looking Forward, Looking Back

As an institution that takes pride in
its photographic production facilities,
education programs and exhibitions,
Gallery 44’s “still revolution” looks
back and forward at the same time.
Photography, as a medium in technological
flux, incites photographers to
respond in myriad ways. The gallery’s
celebratory 30th anniversary exhibition
highlights many of these developments.

Works in the exhibition use contemporary
techniques, such as the
scanning of objects in lieu of a traditional
camera, as in the work of April
Hickox. Contemporary themes prevail
in the dark tableaux of Dianne Davis
and the constructed scenes of Alex
Kisilevich. Chris Shepherd photographs
vacant storefronts in the process
of change; Paul Till uses a vintage
Diana camera to nostalgic effect.
Documentary practices are celebrated
in Marco Buonocore’s gelatin silver
prints and in Heidi Leverty’s magni-
fied study of discarded paper. Charlene
Heath questions the documentary
genre in her photographs of webcam
images. From ambrotypes and tintypes
by Rob Norton, to cyanotypes printed
on silk organza by Sally Ayre, traditional
photographic methods are juxtaposed
with contemporary chromogenic
prints. This exhibition represents a
range of Gallery 44 members’ works,
and was juried by Sophie Hackett,
Catherine Dean and Peter Higdon.